Spring practices will get underway for the Penn State Nittany Lions later this month as James Franklin's program eyes a run at the national championship in 2025 after falling one game short of playing for the crown this past season.

The Nittany Lions return a talented team on both sides of the ball in 2025, including at the quarterback position. The Nittany LIons said goodbye in December to backup quarterback Beau Pribula, whose transfer from the program before their first round playoff game against SMU caused a national debate of the college football calender.

But outside of Pribula's departure, the rest of the Nittany Lions quarterback room is set to return in 2025, including senior Drew Allar, who's back for a third season as the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback.

Here's how the Nittany Lions quarterback room looks entering the spring. Please note that the order they're discussed in is also in order of the projected depth chart.

Allar is back for one final ride with the Nittany Lions after completing 66.5% of his passes last season for 3,327 yards, 24 touchdowns, and eight interceptions in 16 games. Despite a strong season, he entered the offseason with a sour taste in his mouth.

In the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame, Allar completed just 12-of-23 passing attempts and threw a game-ending interception on the Nittany Lions' final drive while trying to force a pass to Harrison Wallace III across the middle. He was also bailed out by two Notre Dame penalties earlier in the game on plays that both resulted in interceptions. It was arguably the worst performance of his career in the biggest moment.

With that, the biggest questions are: How does he bounce back from that performance? And what lasting effect will it have on his game? Will it be a game that proves tough for Allar to recover from? Or will the former four-star quarterback use it as motivation and take another big step forward this offseason?

If Allar can do the latter, Penn State will be an even more dangerous team in 2025 than they were in 2024—especially with what should be an improved wide receiver room, at least at the top of the depth chart, in Kyron Hudson and Devonte Ross.

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The Lewis Center (OH) native is entering his second season with the program after appearing in one game last year. Notably, the former four-star quarterback was named the developmental squad's Offensive Player of the Week six times. During the back half of last season, Grunkemeyer, as James Franklin put it, "really turned it on," which has created a lot of excitement and hope for the second-year quarterback taking a big step in year two with the program. Entering the spring, Grunkemeyer will be the Nittany Lions' No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart but will be pushed by redshirt sophomore Jaxon Smolik.

Smolik, when healthy, has been impressive in practice settings, however, the Iowa native missed the entirety of the 2024 season. He should be ready to go for spring practices but missing a whole season will be tough for the 2023 signee to overcome when it comes to the depth chart. While the staff loves Smolik's potential, Ethan Grunkemeyer remains the heir apparent to Drew Allar. We'll see if Smolik can shift that thought process this spring

The true freshman quarterback is a long-term project piece for quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien. The 6-foot-5 signal caller had maybe the best raw arm strength of any prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle, but after limited play over the last few seasons and areas of his game that need significant work, Kritza is a quarterback that will require patience from a developmental standpoint.

The walk-on out of North Carolina returns for his redshirt sophomore season.

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